The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1887-06-23
HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF.
A Great Many Things Done in the Name
of Religion for Which Christi
anity VIII Suffer.
atlanta Constitution.

Many LhlnSS are zone III Vic naue
of religion and by men who pretend
to be extremely religious, that tend
to injurc rather than advance Chris.
tianity.
The religion taught by our Savior
has been of immense benefit to the
human race. It has spread civiliza-
ton, made man happier and better,
elevated woman, and purified and
redeemed millions. But many things
have been done in the name of Chris
tianity that have brought great mis-
cry and suffering into the world.
We must expect to see history re-
peat itself. The terrible scourge Of
war that followed the strife between
the puritan and the cavalier in Eng
land, and the contentious between
the Catholic and the Protestant, in
various forms in Europe, involved
great nations in war ofthirty years
duration. This carnival of blood
brought pestilence and famine, and
men were reduced to the extremity
of cannibalism as the result of q strife
originating in religious differences.
It is unnecessary to mention similar
calamities and excesses. They stain
the records of every Christian nation.
The devil was abroad in the land
when our Savior set up His kingdom
on earth. He was found frequently
then in the company ofreligious peo-
pie. He wanted Christ to attempt
many things, and he succeeded fre-
quently in getting Christ's followers
to do many things that were wrong
and productive Of evil.
When our Savior performed the
miracle of the loaves and fishes He
found the devil in the congregation
and quietly withdrew and went away
from the multitude. They followed
him and our Savior told them plainly
that many of them were following
Him for the loaves and fishes. It
taxes poor judge of human nature
to fail to recognize the devil in many
alleged religious manifestations at
the present time. He is abroad in
the7and, and nothing pleases him
better than excesses of any kind.
He preferred place on high noun
tain, more than eighteen centuries
ago, simply because he wanted to
pass the world in review. He has
been at it ever since. lie sends his
evangelist into the great cities, not
to preach the gospel, but to say sharp
things that will capture the congre-
CATION, and be never fails to take up
a collection. He will not hesitate to
defle the true and holy religion of
christ by announcing that he will
have Holy Ghost of g time at his
next meeting" He will run into any
excess and deceive the people by tell
ing them that he is fighting himself.
Good people sometimes say: well,
perhaps a class is reached in this
way that cannot be reached in any
other way
Christianity will suffer tor all this.
It is sure to come, as it has in the
past, and we will have only to refer
back to the history of English speak
ing people to see what these excesses
led to shortly after the reign of James
the First. It will be recollected that
just before the wave of liceDtiousness,
when virtue had no reward and every
thing was debased, when the word
.hypocrite was synonymous with re-
ligious zeal, just such actings and
doings were witnessed. "Praise-God
Barebones' was name that marked
the era we allude to. This crowd
had their evangelists, aman who said
funny things, and took up collections,
and cut many queer antics. He had
peculiar ways of making himself con-
spicuous. There were many such
false leaders, and they succeeded in
disgusting the good and sensible. 1t
was a fruitful text for the intidel and
it retarded Christianity.
There is but one form of religion,
and it is the pure and simple one
taught by our Savior. 1t fits the
rich and the poor alike. 1t is based
on love, not money; meekness, not
noise; purity, not fun; truth, not
jokes; forgiveness, not reviling. The
simplest minded man in the world
cannot fail to understand it, and be.
cause it is so simple the devil at
tempts to counterfeit it. Even Paul
marveled that the people were so
soon removed from this gospel to an.
other, 'But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of
Christ"
It is not uncommon in this day to
hear the expression from Christian
lips that ie is right to fight the devil